Automobile safety in recent years has been improved by the installation of a variety of passenger restraints including seat belts, shoulder harnesses, and air bags. Air bags are inflated automatically at the instant of a crash or other impacts, and have been designed to be inflated in one of three modes. Air bags may be inflated by a gas such as argon or nitrogen stored under high pressures in suitable containers; or by gases generated by the ignition of pyrotechnic or explosive compositions; or by a combination of both, in what are presently called hybrid gas generators. Hybrid gas generators make it weight, volume, and pressure of the typical gas cylinder used in prior art a
In present day motor vehicles air bag inflators are usually provided for and are optionally provided for passengers. These devices are installed as accesso such they add to the weight of the vehicle.
Among the locations which have been suggested are mounting the inflator on the ceiling or seat of a vehicle (Martin U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,377). Still other suggestions include fabricating a inflator as a bumper (Amit U.S. Pat. 3,708,194) or as the rim of a steering wheel (German Offen DE 31 26 079 A1), or as an accessory mounted on a steering column (Okada U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,901). In the present invention the inflator may replace a structural element of the vehicle with consequent savings in material and in weight.